Yes yes yes unashamedly yes. Toy Story is the greatest movie trilogy of all time.
There I said it.
I know. That’s a pretty bold statement from a self confessed uber geek right? What about the original Star Wars trilogy? Lord of the Rings? Back to the Future? The Ocean movies?
Ok, so that last one was a joke but the point still stands. With all of those fantastic trilogies plus all the others I haven’t even begun to mention, what makes the story of a bunch of animated innanimate objects the greatest of all time?
Well, as far as I’m concered there are rather a lot of reasons actually…
Toy Story was never intended to be a trilogy. It started off as an experiment by a small computer animating production company which aimed to prove that you could make a feature length film using these balmy new fangled animation software programmes. However it turned into something much more than that as we now know. The first film’s success, as we were to find out with the raft of digimation which subsequently followed, wasn’t to do with the animation techniques (although that helped it to get in audiences at first). Instead, Toy Story’s success was in the fact the story of what happens to toys when we leave the room is one which everyone could relate to. we’d all had that fantasy when we were younger.
Adults loved it as did every child. It was far and away my favourtie film as a kid (I could quote line for line most of the film, particularly Woody’s “YOU ARE A TOY!” speech). Adults could see the obvious undertones of work place rivalries and jealousy, kids could see a toy cowboy and the coolest action figure of all time (He has wings! He has lasers! I want a Buzz now!). Pixar had done something which was almost impossible to do, they had created a perfect film. A kids film where age was no restriction. Everyone laughed at all the jokes, no matter of age. Everyone cheered when Buzz flew. Everyone wanted to see what happened next.
Skip ahead a few years and Pixar are now the game changers. A Bugs Life had proved that Toy story was no fluke which of course meant that the pressure was massive. Could they make it 3 smash hits in a row? Would they achieve that unlikely and constantly ellusive thing with Toy Story 2; a sequel which completely lives up to the first?
It wasn’t easy with the film having initially to be completely scraped with just 1 year left before release and rumours of Disney wanting to make it themselves as a straight to video release without the help of Pixar. However, in the end brilliance won out and audiences were treated to a film which built on everything the first film had created. Toy Story 2 is bigger, arguably funnier than the first (the countless Star War’s in jokes, the ‘bloopers reel’ at the end) and packed with more emotional heft tht most live action films. This is none more true than during Jesse’s flashback. Immediately we all forget that this is the story of a toy cowgirl and are faced with a tale of what happens when the people you love simply out grow you. Everyone gets older, everyone loses touch with what they once had. It may be an animated toy cowgirl but underneath those pixels is more heart than in anything Dreamworks animation has ever produced. Nearly 11yrs on and I still get a lump in my throat during that song.
Everything about Toy Story 2 proved that these characters were some of the greatest ever created. The story moves on masterfully from the first movie, proving that the first movie was not just a one hit wonder.Then we waited.
6 long years passed and it finally happened; Pixar announced Toy Story 3! But where were we going to go? Well, there was only one way to finish off the trilogy wasn’t there?We’d had the introductions, we’d had the realisation that one day Andy would be grown up and, as all of us are want to do, he would forget about his toys, so where now? Well, it was obvious. What does happen when those you love outgrow you?
Based very very roughly on the first draft of the original Toy Story script (where tin toy gets lost and ends up in a daycare where he is loved forever), Toy Story 3 completes the trilogy with the prefection that every one of us was hoping for. From the opening montage of Andy growing up and the Toy gradually being forgotten about you can tell this is a film with so much heart you have to wonder if it is powered by kittens and candy?
Toy Story 3 is also ‘wee yourself’ funny in placed. I’ll admit, it isn’t as funny as 2 but when it is funny, bloody hell it’s brilliant. It also avoids the third movie slip which a lot of trilogies have (Ewoks anybody? 4 endings?- I’m looking at you Jackson) and ends on a note so perfect you’ll wonder what sort of devil did Pixar seel their souls to in order to possess so much talent.
The moment that Andy looks at Woody, with all the love of a 6 year old but all the fear of a teenager finally accepting that adulthood looms is so brilliantly realised that for me it summed up everything that was perfect about this trilogy. Every film is just as strong as the one which came before it. There are no weak moments in any of the films with the stories, jokes and plot creating a perfect blend of cinema which for once fits the overused cliche of a film for all ages.
Becuase that’s just it, this is film for all ages. It doesn’t have the niche sci fi nerd appeal of Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. It doesn’t play for kids and then wink at adults with funny in jokes a la Shrek. It mearly does that near impossible thing of playing to every audience of every age. Kids and their parents laugh at the ‘ooooohhhh aliens’, teenagers snigger at the bitter Mr Potatoe Head’s snide remarks and grown men well up as an animated cowboy doll is handed over to someone in more need of it, it’s owner having out grown such childish things. But I guess the question these films leave us with at the end of the day is, do we ever really outgrow such childish things?
I hope I never do.
To Infinity, and Beyond!
xxx
Reece's Pieces 